It has been mentioned in the past concerning the tablet holders. They did have tablet holders listed at one time on the accessories page. It attached to the back of the front headrests for 2nd row passengers. It had power go to it for power to 2 USB ports.

It has been said they were removed because they did not pass crash worthiness testing. It has also been mentioned new ones will eventually be added after a 'redesign' or improvement.

I cannot locate the post but I seem to remember something mentioned about not offering built in rear seat entertainment stuff because technology is ever changing so tablet holders would fit many usage scenarios.

 

Thanks for those (bad) news. RSE is such a nice feature with children. It may sound silly, but the lack of it may really make me buy a competitor like Range Rover ou Mercedes GL.

 

You can't be serious!?!?!? Over RSE? Just buy the kids iPads and be down with it. Or buy some of the really high quality "universal" iPad holders. iPads are way cheaper than RSE, plus they aren't anchored to the car...you can take them with you!!

 

No worries...

This is deja vu for Volvo.

Back in 2002 when the original XC90 was about to launch and before we even had brochures for the first Volvo SUV there were some simple handouts that showed a single screen roof mounted rear seat entertainment system for the XC90.

Unfortunately just like the tablet holders for the 2016 XC90 the rear seat entertainment system was not available for the 2003 XC90 when it first came out. It was also a question of safety as Volvo had not completed all of their safety tests to be sure the screen would not come loose from the roof in an accident and hurt someone. Eventually the tests were completed and the roof mounted single screen rear seat entertainment system was offered for early XC90's. It even had a clever feature that would fold the screen up into the roof when the car was put in reverse so the driver could see out the inside rear view mirror. Of course when this happened and kids were watching a movie they would yell Mommy - Daddy we can't see the movie - but once the gear shifter was taken out of reverse the screen would fold back down and the kids could continue to watch the video. Later rear seat entertainment systems for the first generation XC90 had dual screens mounted in the back of the front headrests.

So, hopefully after safety tests are completed for the tablet holders a new wave of youngsters will be able to watch movies and play video games safely and securely in the all-new XC90.

 

William:

I really hope Volvo can design tablet holders that pass the Volvo safety tests. I think the roof/headrest systems are antiquated. With a tablet holder the person can watch a movie/show/play games/read a book/etc. We have pushed our XC90 delivery back a year and hope to do an OSD next year. I hope the tablet holders are available by then or eralier.

 

I ended up getting the RSE in our current suv and the kids actually choose to use the builtin RSE for long trips and they have us stop at a RedBox to pick up movies over using any of the ipads, kindles, or their iphones, maybe because of the centralized wireless headphones that we have many of. Of course, they also do use the ipads or phones when they run out of movies, but now that's more personal and they use their own wired headphones.

What I value most is that it allows multiple rear passengers to watch something with wireless headphones so that the front passengers can still do their own thing, but I don't think I'd cancel a car I really wanted over it.

 

For me, the whole overhead RSE vs IPad thing is age dependent. My 2-6 year olds aren't quite independent enough to fully operate an IPad for the benefit of all travelers. For them, the overhead option is very nice. Our other vehicle is a Toyota Sienna with the upgraded JBL system and I must say that even I enjoy sitting in the second row and watching movies with the kids on long trips to Disneyland. Whatever Volvo goes with, let's hope it's more user friendly than the horrific headrest DVD system currently used...sub-menu hell just to play the movie through the car speakers.

 

I am also planning to do an OSD next year. And I agree that the overhead RES is out-dated.

I use Plex media server at home to stream movies to ipads/iphones/PCs. It can be set up in a vechile.

 

Honestly, who cares! So few Volvos already have RSE in them and if they do, it's poorly made and you can buy an aftermarket system much cheaper.

 

I don't know.....the built-in headrests Volvo has is not poorly made, very high quality, fit and finish integration is top notch, and it works quite well if that's the type of system you want. And aftermarket system doesn't have a warranty like buying it in a Volvo either.

 

While I agree many kids just use devices these days mine still like to watch movies or bring along a console to play together. The can't play Mario Kart on an ipad together. There are blu-ray/dvd players in many family haulers so their omission here is odd. Not a deal breaker for me but something I would have liked to have.

Granted they can just look out the window as we did as kids or hit each other but I rather like the quiet with them thoroughly occupied.